Martin Clunes

Alexander Martin Clunes OBE DL (born 28 November 1961) is an English actor, comedian, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin and Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly. Clunes has narrated a number of documentaries for ITV, the first of which was Islands of Britain in 2009. He has since presented a number of documentaries centred on animals. He has also voiced Kipper the Dog in the animated series Kipper. Clunes was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama, charity and the community in Dorset. Early life Clunes was born on 28 November 1961 in Wimbledon (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), the son of actor Alec Clunes and his second wife, Daphne ( Acott) Clunes (4 July 1928 – 17 September 2007). Clunes was educated at the Royal Russell School in Croydon, and later at the Arts Educational Schools, London. He has an older sister Amanda. Clunes is related to actor Jeremy Brett, who was variously described as either Clunes' uncle or cousin. Career Clunes served his first role in rep at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and his first television appearance was in an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard for the BBC Play of the Month in 1982, followed by the Doctor Who story Snakedance in 1983. A sporadic career led to his supplementing his income as a photo model for Gilbert and George, and he can be seen in their 1983 work World. He got his first regular television role as one of the sons in the BBC sitcom No Place Like Home, and then starred in two series of the sitcom All at No 20.